The Tip Line Review

I have been in a reading slump recently and was looking for something to help me get back into reading. I have pushed through several books that I didn't love because (for some reason) I always feel like I need to finish them. When reading the book that I am reviewing today, I came to a big realization---Life is way to short to waste time reading books that we don't love.

The Tip Line is a thrillerl and is the debut novel of author, Vanessa Cuti. It will be released on April 18th. If you would like to pre-order The Tip Line you can find it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. You can follow the author, Vanessa Cuti, on Goodreads!

Special thanks to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and the author for sending me an advanced audio copy in exchange for an honest review. As always, all views expressed are my own.

Anxious to get married, thirty-year-old Virginia Carey lands a job as an operator at a police tip line, where she thinks finding a husband will be easy. There’s Charlie Ford, a surprisingly sweet homicide detective, and charming police chief Declan “Deck” Brady. But just as Virginia’s plans begin to fall into place and she can almost picture a ring on her finger, she answers a call from Verona—a mysterious woman who provides a tip about four bodies on a remote local beach.

Verona, a sex worker, also gives Virginia details on sordid and raucous parties attended by law enforcement officers, and on the strange fetishes of cops she has been involved with. Then comes an explosive tip: Verona thinks it’s a police officer who is responsible for the killings.

But it can’t be true—the cops Virginia works with are marriage material, even if they are a little rough around the edges. While Verona trusts that her tips are being heard because she and Virginia have formed an unusual connection, Virginia realizes that the key to solving the case is ultimately in her hands.

The tip line will reveal the truth about those murders. So long as Virginia is willing to hear it.

I gave this book 2 stars. As much as I wanted to love this, I just couldn't bring myself to. For starters, the main character was the worst. A grating personality that took a promising plot and absolutely ruined it. I am all for unlikeable characters who have real flaws, but Virgina was one character that I could not stand. She's very desperate for any sliver of male attention and validation, she lives in fantasy land, and she's so one-note that its not even funny.

In my opinion, if you're going to have an unbearable character at the helm of the story, you should have a fascinating plot to back them up. Unfortunately, the plot was all over the place. It is so sad because the synopsis sounded awesome. I really thought that I would pick this up, get out of my slump, and love it---but the actual plot is vastly different from what I was promised. Instead of focusing on the case and murders that are mentioned in the synopsis, we are focused on Virginia finding a husband at the Police Department. This is not the police department Bachelorette---this is a thriller, but I don't think the author and I were on the same page about that.

As I mentioned before, this was an audiobook copy that I listened to and I want to give the narrator some serious credit. Her narration was fantastic. She was clear, easy to listen to, and was really trying to add something to the story. The narration was the highlight of this book, and one of the only enjoyable parts, for me.

Overall, I am sure you gathered by now that I did not like this book very much. This is the book that has finally convinced me that sometimes its not worth it to power through. In the future, I'll be taking my own advice on not suffering through books I don't enjoy!

Though I personally didn't love it, you might really enjoy this book! If the premise sounds interesting to you, I would always encourage you to give it a try. Due to the adult language, dialogue, and situations referenced throughout, I would only suggest this book for readers 18+.

Will you be checking out The Tip Line after it is released later this month? Let me know in the comments below!

As always, thank you for reading!

XO,

Madison